January 9th "2024" daily prep
Welcome to day 9, known as National Apricot Day, National Nerd Word Day, Poetry at Work Day, Static Electricity Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of April 18th. Your star sign is “Capricorn” and your birthstone is Garnet.
2015 – Wing Commander Nikki Thomas became the first woman to command an RAF fast jet squadron, taking charge of the newly reformed No. 12 Squadron at RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Todays birthdays
1956 – Imelda Staunton (68), English actress (The Crown, Maleficent, Nanny McPhee), born in Archway, London.
1972 – Sarah Beeny (52), English property developer & television presenter (Sarah Beeny’s Selling Houses), best known for presenting Property Ladder, born in Reading.
1980 – Sergio García (44), Spanish professional golfer (European Tour, PGA Tour), born in Borriol, Spain.
1982 – Catherine, Princess of Wales (42), member of the British royal family and wife of Prince William, The Prince of Wales, born in Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading.
1987 – Paolo Nutini (37), Scottish rock singer & songwriter (“Sunny Side Up”), born in Paisley, Scotland.
The day today
1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, planted the British flag 112 miles from the South Pole, the furthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
1929 – Alexander Fleming successfully treated his assistant Stuart Craddick’s infection with a penicillin broth, at St Mary’s, Paddington.
1972 – British miners began their first strike since 1926, campaigning for improved pay and conditions. A season of power cuts followed.
2014 – The closure of Clerkenwell fire station, close to King’s Cross in London. Built in 1872, it was the UK’s oldest fire station.
2016 – The Flying Scotsman, (engine no. 60103) and the first steam engine to be officially recorded at 100mph carried its first passengers, after a 10 year restoration that cost £4.2M. Test run services were carried out on the East Lancashire Railway, between Bury and Rawtenstall, for two successive weekends.
Today in music
1955 – Rosemary Clooney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Mambo Italiano’ the singers second No.1. The song was banned by all ABC owned stations in the US because it “did not reach standards of good taste”.
1970 – During a UK tour Led Zeppelin appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London, the night of Jimmy Page’s 26th birthday. (John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were all in the audience). The two and a quarter hour set was recorded and filmed but shelved for several decades, eventually seeing a release on a 2003 official DVD.
1976 – Queen were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The single enjoyed a nine week run on the chart selling more than a million copies by the end of the month. It reached No.1 again in 1991 for five weeks following Mercury’s death, eventually becoming the UK’s third best selling single of all time.
2005 – Elvis Presley went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Jailhouse Rock.’ The single sold just 21,262 copies to reach No.1, the lowest sales ever for a UK chart topper since data began in 1969. The single was released to celebrate the 70th anniversary of his birth, a previous Elvis chart topper was re-released each week.
2008 – Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was named the worst dressed celebrity in an annual list of fashion disasters. Fashion critic Richard Blackwell, who had compiled the poll every year since 1960, said Beckham stepped out in “one skinny-mini monstrosity after another”. Amy Winehouse’s trademark beehive and tattoos helped earn her second place in the list.
Today in history
1735 – The birth of British admiral, John Jervis (Earl of St. Vincent). In 1797, he and Nelson, who was then a captain, defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent.
1799 – Income tax was introduced into Britain by William Pitt the Younger, to raise funds for the Napoleonic War. The rate was two shillings in the pound.
1806 – Lord Nelson, naval commander and hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, was buried beneath the dome of St Paul’s cathedral, in London, after a grand and solemn procession along the river to Whitehall and then to the City.
1816 – Sir Humphry Davy tested his Davy safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery. In January 1819, Davy was awarded a baronetcy, at the time the highest honour ever conferred on a man of science in Britain. A year later he became President of the Royal Society.
1888 – The London Financial Guide was launched. It later became The Financial Times on 13th February.
Fact of the day
The world’s largest waterfall is underwater. Yes, there are waterfalls under the ocean. At the Denmark Strait, the cold water from the Nordic Sea is denser than the Irminger Sea’s warm water, making it drop almost two miles down at 123 million cubic feet per second.